A single riddle-verse describing the body as a cart, answered by a matching verse on cutting free of it
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
A rough counterpart may exist in the Chinese Saṃyukta-āgama (T99), though this reading guide does not assert a specific matching sutra number
Difficulty
★★★★☆ — the compressed cart imagery rewards unpacking piece by piece
Why this discourse
Nandivisāla's verse compresses the body into a single dense image: a cart with four wheels, nine doors, stuffed full and bound with greed, born from a bog — and asks the Buddha directly, ‘how will I keep going?’ The Buddha's reply keeps the cart image but answers with the specific action that frees it: cutting the strap and harness of wicked desire and greed, and plucking out craving root and all.
Reading guide
The body as a cart, compressed into one riddle
Unlike this book's more expansive riddle-verses, Nandivisāla's entire question arrives in a single four-line stanza, packing four separate images — wheels, doors, stuffing, bog-birth — into one dense description before asking how to proceed.
Four wheels, nine doors: numbers left to interpret
The verse does not explain what its four wheels or nine doors specifically represent, leaving the numerical imagery — commonly read elsewhere in early Buddhist commentary as referring to the body's postures and its orifices — unglossed within the discourse itself, consistent with this reading guide's practice of not supplying interpretations the text does not state.
Born from a bog: an image shared with SN 2.24
The cart's origin ‘from a bog’ echoes the same image this vagga has already used at SN 2.24 for what the seven Aviha mendicants crossed, here applied instead to where the body-cart itself originates.
A direct question, a direct answer
Nandivisāla's closing line, ‘how will I keep going?’, is answered by the Buddha with equal directness: not a further riddle but a specific named action, cutting the cart's strap and harness, identified explicitly as wicked desire and greed.
Craving pulled out root and all
The verse's final line intensifies the image beyond merely cutting a harness: craving itself is to be ‘plucked out, root and all’, a stronger image of total removal rather than simply loosening what restrains the cart.
Key terms
catucakka — “four-wheeled” — the first of four compressed images in Nandivisāla's opening description of the body.
navadvāra — “nine-doored” — the second image, its specific referents left unglossed within the discourse.
paṅkajāta — “born from a bog” — the cart's origin, echoing the same image used at SN 2.24.
yottaṁ ca yugaṁ — “strap and harness” — what the Buddha's reply names as needing to be cut, identified as wicked desire and greed.
taṇhaṁ samūlaṁ abbuyha — “craving, plucked out root and all” — the verse's final, most total image of removal.
The text
The discourse in full: Nandivisāla's compressed cart-riddle and the Buddha's answering verse. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).
§1Standing to one side, the godling Nandivisāla addressed the Buddha in verse:
§2“Four are its wheels, and nine its doors; it’s stuffed full, bound with greed, and born from a bog. Great hero, how will I keep going?”
§3“Having cut the strap and harness—wicked desire and greed—and having plucked out craving, root and all: that’s how you will keep going.”
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Self-check quiz
Ten questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.
Question 1 of 10
What image does Nandivisāla's verse use for the body?
Correct: A. A single dense image compressing four separate elements into one stanza.
Question 2 of 10
What question does Nandivisāla ask about this cart?
Correct: A. The verse's closing line, met by the Buddha's specific answer.
Question 3 of 10
Does the discourse explain what the cart's four wheels and nine doors specifically represent?
Correct: A. Consistent with this reading guide's practice of not supplying interpretations the text does not state.
Question 4 of 10
What earlier discourse in this vagga shares the “born from a bog” image?
Correct: A. There applied to what the seven Aviha mendicants crossed; here to the cart's own origin.
Question 5 of 10
How does the Buddha answer Nandivisāla's question?
Correct: A. A direct answer matching the directness of the original question.
Question 6 of 10
What does the Buddha's reply identify the strap and harness as?
Correct: A. Named explicitly in the Buddha's answering verse.
Question 7 of 10
What does the verse's final line say should happen to craving?
Correct: A. A stronger image of total removal, beyond merely cutting a harness.
Question 8 of 10
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: A. A bare setting note, consistent with several discourses in this collection.
Question 9 of 10
How does this discourse's riddle differ structurally from this book's other riddle-verses?
Correct: A. A denser, more compressed riddle than most other verses in this vagga.
Question 10 of 10
What overall relationship does this discourse's answer bear to its question?
Correct: A. The Buddha's reply keeps the cart image while supplying the specific freeing action.
